Day 10: Sharks get today off — and more from the locker room on that 3-2 shootout win over Red Wings

The Sharks were scheduled to practice here at 10 a.m. today, then fly to Buffalo in the afternoon so I set up my travel plans the same way. Naturally, Todd McLellan last night canceled practice — recognizing, I’m guessing, that his players had to be exhausted after that 3-2 shootout victory over the Red Wings on the second half of back-t0-backs. Or maybe he just wanted to reward them.

I’ve used this line at least once before, but some games you don’t know how you’re going to fill the space in the print edition and others you’ve got an over-abundance of material. That game last night? Definitely one of the latter.

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So, if you’ve read the print edition story (and there is that link at right), here’s the spillover after a game that could not have had more of a playoff feel to it in the building if not, as it turns out, on the bench.

****On some nights, Dwight Helminen would’ve been the story.

He’s a Michigan guy in more than ways than one who kicked around the minors for a few years, then scores a critical goal in his first game against the team he cheered for growing up.

Born in Hancock, a pretty remote outpost on the Upper Peninsula about 550 miles northwest of Detroit, he actuallygrew up in Brighton, a Motor City suburb where his family moved about 45 minutes from Joe Louis Arena.

He played college hockey for the Wolverines at Ann Arbor, but that also meant last night wasn’t his first time competing at the Joe, which serves as the site of an annual college tournament.

“I played in this building in college and had some good games were,” Helminen said. “I was hoping to get some of that magic here tonight.”

Helminen, 26, had lots of people rooting for him in the building, though he didn’t have a head count when we talked after the game.

“I was just coming in looking for some holes and then he went for the poke check and I was able to get around it and get the puck up.”

****Evgeni Nabokov was the one player who didn’t play up the importance of getting at least one victory in the four games against Detroit this season.

“To me, two points is two points. I don’t care who it is against,” the goalie said. “There are so many good teams, you can’t pick and choose where you want the points, where you don’t want the points. You have Chicago, you have LA , you have Detroit, you have Washington. . . .”

On the hard work of his defense in front of him: “A couple times we got a little bit lucky, but a couple times, they got the puck back and we were battling with them and not giving them a clear chance to have the rebound.”

On one difference between winning and losing: “It’s amazing how, when you win, you don’t feel as tired. If you lose, you would be dead and I probably would not talk to you guys now. It is amazing how much positive energy it brings.”

****Rarely does this happen, but I realized at deadline last night that I had finished the story without a quote from Todd McLellan. That may be a first. Still, I thought maybe this was a game to hear a little more from the players.

Not that the coach didn’t have plenty to say.

I asked if it felt like a playoff game from his perspective or that of the players. Trust me, there was a tension and excitement in the building that you rarely see in a regular season game.

But that’s not how he looked at it.

“In the playoffs, you don’t often play three games in four nights with travel all over the place and you usually don’t have back to backs.”

His overall thoughts on the game: ”We’re on this trip and it’s been taxing, but every team in the league goes through it. That’s why I think you could see as the game went on, the tanks were empty. It was a tough night for us.

“The goaltender gave us a chance, we dug down and found some energy reserves late in the game, our penalty kill gave us an opportunity again and we dug our heels in and found a way to get some points.”

On the importance of beating Detroit: ”Mentally is it important to take points away from this team? Did we play well against them? I think we played well considering the circumstances. We had the start we needed. We got everybody into the game. Everybody contributed, even the low-minute guys.”

On Dwight Helminen: “Every shift he goes out there, he enhances our opinion of him and I think his teammates appreciate his effort as well.”

On Nabokov’s performance: ”I think we’re always confident when Nabby is in goal. I think our team did a good job of making them float a lot of their shots in from a distance. There were a lot of scrambles and a lot of loose opportunities, but we did a good job on that and they didn’t get many second chances. And Nabby took care of their original ones.”

On winding up what is now a 4-1 road trip Saturday night against the Sabres: “Whatever you have left on this trip has to be emptied in Buffalo. It doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympian or a non-Olympian, the Sharks come first and we expect everybody to drain themselves there. We get a day tomorrow to recover and we’ll see what happens.”

****Finally, one of you asked how I’ll be spending the Olympic break. I won’t be in Vancouver — and that’s fine with me. Newspapers, as we all know, do have limited resources these days.

The Merc will have two people on the scene — Elliott Almond who knows everything there is to know about skating and skiing and all the other components of the winter games, and Mark Purdy, who — despite what some of you write on occasion – knows his way around a hockey rink and a lot of other venues up there as well.

Twelve years ago, eight years ago, even four years ago, I would’ve been in the office pounding on somebody’s desk, making the case that I needed to be there if for no other reason than the Sharks had more players going to Vancouver than any other NHL team. But this is now. And, frankly, with all the travel and all the long days in this job already, I think the idea of two weeks with pretty much nothing to do holds way more appeal.

And with that, I shuffle off to Buffalo.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Ugh even cheecho for 1.5Mil seems like a waste of a roster space, too bad the injury took what just enough to waste his elite talent leaving him with not nearly enough skating ablity to hang on a top line. And he is a vastly ineffective 3-4th liner.

Wrote in grade school he was going to be a shark, worked his tail off made the team scored 50+. The poof its gone

Mark Purdy

Greetings, loyal citizens of WTC. I am indeed in Vancouver and I appreciate Mr. Pollak’s endorsement of my puck knowledge. My standard line is that I know just enough about hockey to make me dangerous. So I never take any insults about that personally.

However, I can also testify that (A) I did play pond hockey as a kid in Ohio and have been covering the sport since my college days (B) I did cover the 1980 Miracle On Ice game in Lake Placid, which was even better than seeing the movie (C) when Mr. Pollak and I were covering the Sharks-Flames playoff series two years ago in Calgary, I was the one who walked across downtown Calgary in 10-degree weather from our restaurant back to our hotel while Mr. Pollak, the alleged lover of all things Canada, wimped out and took a cab — and most importantly (D) I do plan to drop as much extra hockey news as I can find in the blog that’s been set up for the Mercury News three-person crew that’s here: Myself, El Almond and Nhat Meyer. You can reach that blog at http://www.ibabuzz.com/onassignment/ .

As a tease, I’ll offer you the tidbit I picked up yesterday here in Vancouver after I arrived. I posted it on the blog last night:

HOW CANADIAN TEAM WILL USE THE SAN JOSE SHARK OLYMPIANS
By Mark Purdy
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 8:16 pm in Uncategorized

If you’re a San Jose Shark fan, you’ve probably been wondering how the Canadian hockey team will use the four Shark players who will suit up for the Great White North — especially the offensive threesome of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley. Well, I’ve had my boots on the ground for barely 24 hours in Vancouver but I’ve already got the answer. Just call my source deep blade. He says the Thornton-Marleau-Heatley group will serve as Canada’s fourth line. That sounds like an insult, but the idea is that by judiciously putting the threesome out there against the weaker lines of other teams–especially Russia and Sweden and the USA–the Thornton line will be able to thrive and shine. They might even be the difference in the tournament. Let’s see if my source is right.

Hope you all are looking forward to the Olympic hockey as much as I am. I’ve been paid to write about the Sharks since the day the franchise was born, which has been quite an adventure, but I think these next two weeks could give us the best hockey tournament in history. Feel free to drop your comments and insults here, or send your e-mails to me any time.

—Mark

Puck Sniper

I wish you spoke to Shelley and asked how he missed the net but hit the top post 1 foot away from the net. Looked like he panicked and was saying “omg omg omg open net, what do I do?!”

Robert

Goalies definitely have different personalities than skaters. I coach youth hockey and it starts young. They are calm and cool while the other kids are bouncing around. Young skaters think they are wierd, but when they get older they come to appreciate a calm goalie. They are the ones that don’t get rattled and off their game when things aren’t going the team’s way. Goalies that are prone to outbursts are often the ones that melt down during games.

I’ll take calm and cool any day of the week.

pac northwest

David,

While in Buffalo, have a beef on weck for me.

ice

let me reiterate by saying, i dont want a goalie who’s yelling and screaming and bouncing off the walls with rage or anything. but JUST ONCE IN A WHILE itd be nice to hear nabby say “yeah i really wanted to stick it to em’ today. i really wanted to frustrate the other team and show them we can beat them.”

im not saying i want some emotional out of control monster.

vonmerpf

With the amount of talent on Canada’s squad, I don’t know if you can even label the different lines as #1 through #4 as if they are ranked. Maybe purely for identification purposes they should switch to “alpha, bravo, charlie and delta” lines.

O’Puck

Mark
–
Thanks for the comments. Good way to get things rolling. Glad to see you have a sense of humor as well.
Having these three on the fourth line, I’d still take as a bit of a slap in the face though. You can always adjust lines to go against the other team. Sounds more like East Coast bias again. Also wouldn’t put it past the Coach trying to get in their heads for later down the road, and in the playoffs. Good time to play mind games. We’ll see how it turns out, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see these three get less than half the ice time Crosby and his cronies get.
Rest up Big Three!

Nick

I like Mark Purdy’s articles when I read them. The only thing I don’t like is his constant use of the line “Our beloved Los Tiburones.” Nobody calls them that. Mexicans I know don’t call them that, not even when they’re speaking in Spanish.

Ever see that episode of Rescue Me where they’re trying to figure out what it’s okay to call the female firefighter? It just strikes me as when Garrity is insisting on “cwat” after everyone else has decided on “twunt.” …Maybe you had to be there, but trust me it’s just like that.

…Hey, come on, not everything has to be rational, detailed analysis…

NickG

Glad Purdy reads the comments and whatnot when he finds the time. Doesn’t mean “los tiburones” is any less irritating.

And why the hell does that nbcsports site have #0000FF as their body text color? I thought that paragraph was one giant link to a more detailed story. Web design fail.

ice

i guess if we could all agree on all things sharks, the way we do on how annoying purdy’s nick name for them, this board would get very boring.

Hip check

The Senators just put Cheechoo on waivers. Poor guy. Ihe was having another lousy season, but I sure do feel sorry for him.

Nick

Waaaaay back @#16: I’m doing the research now, and it looks like:
1993-94: Ousted by Leafs in round 2, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
1994-95: Ousted by Red Wings in round 2, who were beaten in the finals.
1997-98: Ousted by Dallas in round 1, who were in turn ousted in round 2.
1998-99: Ousted by Colorado in round 1, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
1999-00: Ousted by Dallas in round 2, who lost in the finals.
2000-01: Ousted by Blues in round 1, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
2001-02: Ousted by Colorado in round 2, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
2004-05: Ousted by Calgary in round 3, who lost in the finals.
2005-06: Ousted by Edmonton in round 2, who lost in the finals.
2006-07: Ousted by Detroit in round 2, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
2007-08: Ousted by Dallas in round 2, who were in turn ousted in round 3.
2008-09: Ousted by Anaheim in round 1, who made me cry for three weeks.

So if you believe past performance indicates future outcomes (and I don’t…) then:
Beating San Jose gives you a 0% chance of winning the Stanley Cup.
Beating San Jose gives you a 33% chance of reaching the finals.
Beating San Jose gives you a 58% chance of losing in the following round.

My own opinion is that beating San Jose in the first round means nothing more than what I’ve said before–The West has a high degree of parity, meaning there are no dominant teams. You can very easily have an 8th seed beat a 1st seed in this Conference. Maybe that’s frustrating for fans and players, but I choose to look on the bright side: Western teams earn their playoff appearances.

O’Puck

Too bad about Chechoo. Just shows how quickly things can go south. Another reason for the players to get as much money as you can while you can.

SharkBabe

So, they shuffle off to Buffalo. NHL players don’t march in the Olympics opening ceremonies?

JM

Agreed with the last couple posters (and roughly every comment I’ve ever heard about Purdy’s Sharks articles), that “our beloved los tiburones” nonsense has to stop. Nobody calls them that. Not one Sharks fan I know, online or off. They’re my beloved SHARKS.

Get it right or else. Or else what? Exactly.

BDub

Could it be that if Team Canada wins the gold medal, we call the Thornton-Heatley-Marleau line “The Gold Line” but if they win anything but gold, it’s “The Bust Line”?

mike

Darren Dreger on twitter just said Shelley was dealt to the Rangers for a draft pick

spooky

#11 ice:
SHOW ME YOU WANT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He showed you: 50+ saves.

Or you rather listen to him talk strong and loose the game ?

Penny

Too bad about Cheechoo. Really nice guy, always gives full effort but just never recovered from that double hernia surgery. He’ll probably get bought out by the Sens this summer.

Please DW, don’t even think of picking him up.

Will F.

Shelley gone to NYR for a draft pick

ice

spooky, making 50+ saves and winning in a shootout, to a team that has stomped on you all season, then saying “yeah its no different than any other game” is crap in my book. he doesnt own it. he never has.

Jody Shelley has taken his knuckles to the New York Rangers.
Thanks for the service big guy.

Ryan

tsn.ca reporting Sharks trade Jody Shelley to NYR for a draft pick.

http://www.bluelinecapitalgroup.com couchfan

Now that Cheechoo sees what we need, why not bring him back?

ice

still waiting for official word if its true, but im okay with the trade if it happens. i think this team as a whole, protects eachother on the ice, much better than in the past. shelly was needed when he first came to san jose, but i think that time has passed. we have plenty of guys on the team to step up, or drop the gloves if its needed.

TankGirl

Okay. That’s a bummer.

Thanks, Jody, for all you did here! You’ll be missed…by most of us, anyway.

(Looks like whomever was saying “trade him” on the last thread got their wish. )

O’Puck

Sorry TankGirl!
I couldn’t remember the official name you gave him.
Sorry to hear about Shelley, if this is true. Wonder what it means for Avery, if anything.
Oh well, at least ice will have something to smile about!

BDub

Misssed…for about a minute.

Patrick

Ice:
Except that the guys willing to drop the gloves now are on the smallish side. Our bottom-six forwards are undersized in general. On the Top-6 side, Clowe will go, but almost always that takes a guy off the ice that is much more skilled than what the opposition loses. Our D isn’t deep enough to let Murray drop them a lot, especially since Blake will most likely already be in the box for a hook or a hold.

Penny

couchfan, Much as he tries, Cheechoo is not physically capable of playing at an NHL level anymore. It has nothing to do with him “seeing” what is needed.

O’Puck

Thanks Shelley for sticking up for the team!
Did your job well here!
Looks like we’ll also lose Chelsea from the blog (previous thread)

Andrew

Just wanted to poke my head in and say, bearing in mind that I’m an atheist – “THANK GOD!” – in response to the Shelley trade. After all, even if we just place the piece of paper signifying whichever draft pick we got from NYR on the bench, it’ll do almost as much good for us as dressing Shelley for a game.

Jeeper

Any truth to the rumor floating around about Shelley to the Rangers for pick(s)?

ice

hehehe yeah opuck i may be smirking slightly. but this blog always makes me smile, regardless of what is being discussed. this blog helps keep me sane while working all day.

i think its a good trade. we like draft pics dont we? especially since we had to give up a pick to get wallin in here. (granted this hasnt been OFFICIALLY announced yet)

ice

and i will always remember that kock out on ORR from a few days ago. one of the best single punches i saw shelly dish out while he was here

WI JP

Sure am glad to know what is OK with Ice. Comforts me.

What Nabby feels / thinks and what he says to the press are two different things. Can’t see him saying “Boy, that was a big win for us cuz we were afraid that the Wings had our number.”

I’m sure that Nabby / Sharks had extra motivation last night. Some things stay in the locker room, however.

JP

Johnny San Jose

ice #18 — I don’t think Nabby means what he says. He’s trying to show that he’s in control when we all know that guys get up for big games. Look at Jumbo… he doesn’t come across firey in his interviews but he knows when games are big.

Atheletes just have it wired into them that some games are bigger than others and in most cases, their effort rises to the occasion.